Because of Him

Elder Contreras and Elder Lacey

July 21, 2014

Dear Family,

Melo is the best. There is really something special here. I feel like the Lord has something planned for Melo because it is ridiculous how open the people are here. When I got here we didn't really have many investigators but in the first 2 days we put 5 baptismal dates with some really solid people. We will see how this week goes but I really feel like there is a lot of potential here. The zone needs a lot of help though. We have already put some good plans into place though to help all of the missionaries be really diligent. I am really looking forward to the challenge and I think we are going to do some awesome things here. My companion Elder Contreras is awesome! He is super chill! I don't really know what it is but I have felt the spirit super strongly in a lot of our charlas. We work really well together.

We found a family last Friday and I am so pumped for them. The mom’s name is Julia and her boyfriends name is Reuben. She has 3 children and he has 1. They are already engaged but they don't know exactly when they are going to get married. They both came to church on Sunday with Julias youngest daughter. Our ward is humoungous!.....at least compared to all of the other wards that I have been in. There were 108 people in church on Sunday and there are some really solid members. Anyway we had a charla with Julia and Reuben last night in their house and we watched Gracias a él (Because of Him) which is a new video that the church came out with a couple months ago for easter. We talked a little bit and Julia opened up and started crying. The only thing she wants is a united family and that is exactly what we were talking to her about. She said that she is really interested so we are really pumped. We are going to start working with the whole family more but the kids are always gone. I love working with families though. 

Being in Melo is definitely a new experience but I like it. The mission is the best! I don't know what else to say. I love how this message can change anyone anywhere. Shoot, I am a changed man. And I like it! :)

Love 

Elder Lacey

Dear Dad,

I am glad that you are showing those priests whats up! Stone Hands Lacey! oops I means Stone Wall Lacey! I was thinking the other day about how we do need to be toughened up to prepare for a mission spiritually as well as physically. I was thinking about Tyler Cahoon and how well he is doing, Sean Farley is killin’ it has well. I am loving the mission too. We all played football and we were all taught good work ethic from our dads. I think that is a huge reason why we are doing so well. Tyler and Sean are machines in the work room and so when you put them in the mission field theirs machines in the mission field as well. If we can learn to have that same work ethic combined with our testimonies in Jesus Christ, no matter what we are doing or where we are we can accomplish anything. Thanks for having me dig those holes in our garden. It builds character.

I hope you guys aren't to uncomfortable in your tiny little trailer. Does it have a Jacuzzi in it or something?

Keep building peoples character!

Love

Elder Lacey

Melo

July 15, 2014

Dear Family,

We got changes last night! I am leaving my hometown of 33 and going to my new hometown in Melo...... Pres. Cook has named it the "Mas allá" zone because it is the furthest away from Montevideo haha! I was really sad when I got the changes. 33 has been the best and I have met so many good people here. The funny thing is that every change has been like that for me so far so I know that I am going to love Melo too. It is crazy to think that I have been in the zone of 33 for 6 changes which is 9 months. I will miss it but I know that Melo is where I am supposed to go. Today is going to be a really sad day saying goodbye to everyone here. Especially my second family, Juan, Lucas, Antonella and all of their family.They are the best! But I have definitely felt a confirmation that Melo is the place that I need to go. It is funny because last change I said that the only place that I didn't want to go was Melo haha! It was because the zone of melo was doing super awesome work and whoever goes there has a lot of upkeep and a lot of work to do. But that is what a mission is for right! LETS GET TO WORK! I am really pumped to do some good things over there.

Elder Bastidas and I have gotten along really well too. My new comp. is Elder Contreres and he is from Chile. He sounds like a really good guy. 

That is so awesome that you all got to see la familia Diaz.........Oh my Gosh! I just realized that my second family is the familia Diaz too! haha What a coincidence! We are really close with that family and I know that the rest of them will get baptized someday. The mom loves us so much because she realized how big of a change this gospel has made in her daughter and grandchildren. The dad actually opened up to us and talks and laughs with us. Before he would't even let us into his house. The sisters are open to everything but they work a ton. we recently were able to watch the restoracion with the mom of Juan and Lucas and she liked it a lot. Plus they give us really good food! I love this family!!! 

In the states they call them transfers. Here they call them cambios which means changes. I love changes so much because it really is a time to make "changes" in your life. When I get to Melo I am going to go do everything I can to find another family to teach because families are the best. My family is the best. I am so grateful for this opportunity that I have to serve Gods children here in Uruguay. There is nothing that I would rather be doing. There is nothing more satisfying than helping people save their lives. Anyone can change, even Dad´s ancestor "poochy Mike" (or whatever they called him) haha! But it is so true. 

I love you all so much!

Elder Lacey

Don't mess with Poly's.

Man! I didn't know Sean and Tyler are both AP's! That is so legit! It is a ton of work but it I bet it is really cool being so close to the mission president and being a part of so many spiritual decisions. I don't think I put it in my other letter but I will still be a zone leader over in Melo. So I will still be doing real man's work in the field instead of sitting in the offices with Pres ;) chiste (that means just kidding)

That is an interesting thought about Nephi talking about his father dwelling in a tent so much. The mission really is a humbling experience and you get to learn a lot about the law of consecration. We are all treated equally. It does not matter where you come from, how many people you baptize or what your position. We are all called to go to work and that is what we are doing.

I love you dad!

Elder Lacey

PS make sure to toughen up that Priest Quorum. Don't be afraid to throw a few jabs in there haha!

Obedience

July 7, 2014

Dear Family,

Looks like you guys have had a good little family reunion. I loved all of the pictures! I am still laughing at the picture at the swimming pool with Sam and Mikey bear hugging in the back haha! weirdos :) 

It is interesting that you talked about obedience because I was going to talk a little bit about that in my letter to you guys today. We had a zone conference last Friday and something that we talked a lot about is something that President Robbins said to us when he was here a little awhile ago. He said that the mission is the best university for life... or something like that. But it is so true! I have already learned something things that have changed my life forever. Two things that I have learned about recently are 1) Goals and 2) Obedience... especially obedience to Priesthood leaders. I think one of the biggest things that has helped me in my life is that my parents taught me how to have an eternal perspective and I have always had goals to help me reach the long term goal, which is eternal life. I have always had the goal to go on a mission, go to college, and one day get married in the temple. So many people don't know their purpose and they don't have any goals so they end up not reaching their full potential. The mission is a university for life. We have so many goals that we make every day, every week and every month. If we learn how to reach our goals in the mission then we will develop the habit to reach our goals after the mission. It is so important to always have a vision of what we want to achieve. There is a quote in PMG in chapter 8 when it talks about key indicators. in spanish it is on page 180. I think it is by Elder Ballard... anyway, you should read it because it talks about the importance of goals. Here in the mission we also get to learn a ton about obedience. We have a lot of leaders here in the mission that pray for us and receive revelation for us and then they put plans (I know his english sounds bad there but that is how you say it in spanish, you “put” plans instead of “make” plans) to help us reach our potential. I have learned that our priesthood leaders are called of God and if we are not obedient to our priesthood leaders we are not being exactly obedient to God. Sometimes there are missionaries who like to rebel against their leaders. You can just see how if you are disobedient in the mission you are going to be disobedient outside of the mission. Por suerte, (fortunately) we have a good bunch of missionaries in our zone that are obedient.

I got the package a week ago! Thank you so much! It feels like I am walking on clouds haha! Thanks for the candy and the beef jerky too. Ooooooppppsss, I just realized that I have a whole stack of letters that I haven't read in like 2 weeks! These past couple of P days have been kind of crazy but today I will read them for sure haha! sorry! 

As for zone activities it is kind of hard to get the whole zone together because we are all so spread out. But we have had a couple activities where we play sports and eat food and such. I have taught a bunch of elders how to play 42 the basketball game and we also played Poison the other day haha! I bought a nice basketball for pretty cheap when I was in Chuy so we have a good time. But when I was in San Carlos it was a lot easier to get together as a zone and so we did a ton of stuff like hikes and what not.

The family of Juan and Lucas are doing awesome! Their grandma is really awesome and she loves us but her problem is that her husband is going to die in a year and he doesn't like religion at all so she wants to wait until he leaves to get baptized. She doesn't know it but she is progressing. Her daughter is Antonella and she helps her a ton. We are still working with all of them but it is kind of slow work. There are so many nice people in that whole family that are open to our message but they all have little problems that keep them from coming to church, etc. they are all very busy people. We are really looking forward to the future with them though. I am kind of sad because I am pretty sure that I will be leaving this change :( but we will see what happens next week.

I love all of you!

Elder Lacey

Dear Dad,

You just explained everything.... The mission is flying by so fast! A couple of weeks ago i felt like I was kind of stuck in a rut of complacency but I am feeling really good now. I have a new work out plan and I am finding extra time to read more scriptures because you are totally right. If we aren't progressing we are falling. I put some personal goals spiritually, mentally, physically, and temporally and I was reminded of when we would have father son interviews and put goals. Those were some good times. It is amazing how fast time has gone. I am trying to continue to be fully engaged so that there will be no regrets when that time finally comes. Say hi to all of the family for me and keep on keepin on.

un abrazo 

Elder Lacey